Monday, March 23, 2009

The Class

I just saw the French movie The Class, and I so very much wanted it to be an American movie of redemption. I wanted the teacher to see, really see, the troubled and trouble-making student. I wanted the student to bask fully in the glow of recognition and find some nugget of himself. I wanted them to share a meaningful smile, each with a tear in his eye, at the end of the year when they said goodbye. Instead, I saw complicated French movie about Frenchness and expectation and rigidity and rules and forgiveness and punishment. People made mistakes, accidents happened, nothing was resolved, everyone moved on, I guess. I guess it was true to French life, and for my happy ending I'm going to have to look elsewhere. Maybe Juno's on demand. Isn't that kind of happy?